Eric Wesley Steelberg (born April 1, 1977) is an American cinematographer, known for his collaboration with director Jason Reitman.
Early life Steelberg was born in 1977 in the Northridge suburb of Los Angeles. His father was a lawyer while his mother was a homemaker.
He was interested in film and photography from a young age; in high school, he took photography classes and started a filmmaking club. Haskell Wexler once visited the club to discuss cinematography, which Steelberg described as "a religious experience for me and instrumental in becoming the resident camera geek".
After high school, he studied still photography at Santa Monica College and planned to transfer to the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, but he left Santa Monica after two years without graduating.
Career Steelberg shot his first film, a short film named The Quiz which was directed by one of his friends, Carl Rinsch, a student taking a summer production workshop at the University of Southern California, when he was 15. In 1999, he shot the short film H@ for writer–director Jason Reitman, whom Steelberg had known in high school, followed by Reitman's In God We Trust in 2000. He went on to work with Reitman on commercials that Reitman directed before moving on to film commercials and short films for other directors.
Steelberg's first feature film as a cinematographer was Quinceañera, released in 2006. After it was released, he was approached by Jason Reitman, who asked him to shoot Juno, which Reitman was directing. His next project was 500 Days of Summer (2009); he was recommended to Marc Webb, the film's director, by one of the producers of Juno. He shot Nanette Burstein's romantic comedy Going the Distance, released in 2010. He collaborated with Reitman on several more films: Up in the Air (2009), Young Adult (2011), Labor Day (2013), and Men, Women & Children (2014). As of 2015, Steelberg has shot five feature films for Reitman. Both Juno and Up in the Air received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture.
In television, Steelberg has photographed the pilot episode of Lone Star and the second season of Eastbound & Down. He is a member of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).
Feature film Year Title Director Notes 2005 Age of Kali Rafal Zielinski 2006 Quinceañera Richard GlatzerWash Westmoreland2007 Numb Harris Goldberg Juno Jason Reitman2009 500 Days of Summer Marc Webb Bandslam Todd Graff Up in the Air Jason Reitman 2010 Going the Distance Nanette Burstein 2011 Young AdultJason Reitman 2013 Labor Day2014 Draft Day Ivan Reitman Men, Women & Children Jason Reitman 2017 Baywatch Seth Gordon2018 TullyJason Reitman The Front Runner 2019 Dolemite Is My Name Craig Brewer 2021 Ghostbusters: Afterlife Jason Reitman2024 Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire Gil Kenan Saturday Night Jason Reitman
Television Year Title Director Notes2010 Lone Star Marc Webb Episode "Pilot" Eastbound & Down Jody HillDavid Gordon Green Season 2 2015 Wicked City Tom Shankland Episode "Pilot" 2016 Billions Neil Burger Episode "Pilot"2017 Crashing Judd Apatow Episode "Artie Lange" The Good Doctor Seth Gordon Episode "Burnt Food" 2019 The Fix Larysa Kondracki Episode "Pilot" 2021 Hawkeye Rhys Thomas 3 episodes 2023 Ahsoka Dave Filoni 5 episodes
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